Real Salt Lake wanted revenge in Monday's match against the Colorado Rapids. But by the end of the game, RSL had hardly evened the score against their Rocky Mountain Cup rivals. A pair of defensive mistakes led to a pair of Colorado goals just four minutes apart and the Rapids ended up with a 2-0 victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Roberto Brown scored in the 71st minute when a long ball was misplayed in the Real penalty area, then Kyle Beckerman scored from an indirect free kick in the area -- on the second chance -- four minutes later. Real Salt Lake are still looking for their first victory of the year; Colorado now leads the all-time series against Real 6-2-1.
Real Salt Lake had the first shot of the game when Jeff Cunningham flagged the ball down and left it for Chris Klein, who ran uncontested to the top of the box for a shot, but the attempt flew over the crossbar in the second minute.
Colorado seemed to win the battle in the midfield in the opening minutes. It paid off in the 13th minute when Nicolas Hernandez shook off RSL's Jack Stewart and took aim, but Eddie Pope stopped the ball on Hernandez's foot.
Real had another fine look at the goal in the 16th minute when Cunningham found himself with some space down in the left corner and passed the ball back and diagonally to Mehdi Ballouchy inside the penalty area. Ballouchy fired a rocket along the ground, but Colorado 'keeper Bouna Coundoul made the save.
Colorado's Kyle Beckerman forced Real's keeper Chris Seitz to make a diving save at the top of the goal area in the 19th minute. Beckerman received the ball and found himself with space when Jason Kreis lost his footing, but Seitz was up to the task on the shot. Seitz was starting his first career game; at 20 years, 49 days of age, he was the second-youngest goalkeeper to start a game in MLS history.
Real started to find some strength on offense as the game progressed. In the 29th minute, Real had a strong string of possession along the top of Colorado's penalty area and were awarded for their effort with a free kick 20 yards out and close to the right sideline. Freddy Adu took the kick, sending it diagonally into the box, but connected with no one and missed outside the far post.
Cunningham created a good look at the goal in the 43rd minute by outplaying Pablo Mastroeni along the right sideline and crossing the ball into the box. But Colorado's defense tracked back well enough to force Ballouchy's subsequent shot off high and right.
After the break, Real had a good look at the goal in the 48th minute when Mastroeni misplayed the ball at the top of the box. Ballouchy tried to get the ball over to Cunningham, but Cunningham had his legs taken out from under him and the opportunity passed. Colorado had its own look in the 48th minute when Herculez Gomez fired from the left sideline and sent a powerful blast on target, but Seitz dove to his left for the save.
Colorado controlled the run of play in the opening minutes of the second half; the Rapids found a way to hold possession in RSL's defensive third. But Real had their looks as well. In the 57th minute, Adu found himself with the ball along the left sideline and room to run into. Adu got the ball to Klein, whose shot from the left hit the outside of the net.
But the Rapids finally broke through in the 71st minute. A long ball down the right side was missed by Daniel Torres, and Brown corraled the bouncing ball inside the penalty area. As Brown cut inside, Torres got turned around and lost his footing, leaving Brown with an open shot that Seitz had no chance of saving as it rose high into the left corner.
Real's defense made another mistake three minutes later. Seitz was ruled to have handled a back pass from Jack Stewart, giving Colorado an indirect free kick in the penalty area 16 yards away from the goal. Gomez hit the net the first time, but the goal was waved off as the play began before the whistle blew.
Referee Abbey Okulaja gave Colorado another try at it, and this time Beckerman put the ball home after the ball rebounded off Real's wall and gave the Rapids a 2-0 lead, which was all they needed.
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
